World of Warcraft fans in the California area—and why not, international and national folks—will be delighted to hear of a special offer that might get you into Blizzcon if you missed out the ticket lottery.

From July 17 through 19, you will have the opportunity to enter a drawing to purchase tickets for the Laguna Art Museum

SIMON FURMANSimon Furman confirmed appearing at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con to sign The Transformers books. He will be more than welcome to say hi to StarCraft fans, and to sign copies of StarCraft # 1 and 2. He will be there all three days from July 24-26.

He has a signing on Saturday, July 25th from 4-5pm and on Sunday, July 26th from 2-3pm at the Dorling Kindersley booth.

The San Diego Comic Con is sold out, so this bit of info is merely for those who already have admission tickets.

Friday
7-8.30pm: “Charity Roast of Keith R.A. DeCandido,” with MC Robert Greenberger, roasters Kirsten Beyer, Kevin Dilmore, Michael Jan Friedman, Glenn Hauman, David Mack, Marco Palmieri, Dayton Ward, and special guest Peter David (Hunt)
10pm-12am: “Meet the Pros,” with all the author and editor guests signing whatever you throw in front of us, and I’ll have some of my own books and comics for sale as well (Hunt/Valley Foyer)

Saturday
11am-12pm: Boogie Knights concert, where we’ll be taking audience requests (made before the concert) and debuting several new songs including one I wrote and will sing (Valley)
1-2pm: “Ten Years Later, Farscape Continues,” with Greg Cox and David Mack (Salon E)
3-4pm: “Star Trek: Corps of Engineers: Wounds,” with Ilsa J. Bick and Terri Osborne (Salon A)
4-5.30pm: “Star Trek: Mere Anarchy,” with Mike W. Barr, Christopher L. Bennett, Kevin Dilmore, Dave Galanter, Dayton Ward, and Howard Weinstein, where we’ll each be reading from one of the chapters in the tale (Salon B)
5.30-6.30pm: “The Chronic Rift Live Podcast,” with John S. Drew, and two others TBA, as we do an episode of the Rift live from Shore Leave (Tack)

AARON ROSENBERGAaron Rosenberg is also assisting Short Leave 31 in Baltimore, Maryland. Aaron wrote Starcraft: Queen of Blades, and a sequel to this book will be revealed in the future. He has also wrote World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness and co-wrote World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal. He is well known by Trekkies.

Simon Furman confirmed appearing at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con to sign The Transformers books. He will be more than welcome to say hi to StarCraft fans, and to sign copies of StarCraft # 1 and 2. He will be there all three days from July 24-26.

He has a signing on Saturday, July 25th from 4-5pm and on Sunday, July 26th from 2-3pm at the Dorling Kindersley booth.

The San Diego Comic Con is sold out, so this bit of info is merely for those who already have admission tickets.

Friday
7-8.30pm: “Charity Roast of Keith R.A. DeCandido,” with MC Robert Greenberger, roasters Kirsten Beyer, Kevin Dilmore, Michael Jan Friedman, Glenn Hauman, David Mack, Marco Palmieri, Dayton Ward, and special guest Peter David (Hunt)
10pm-12am: “Meet the Pros,” with all the author and editor guests signing whatever you throw in front of us, and I’ll have some of my own books and comics for sale as well (Hunt/Valley Foyer)

Saturday
11am-12pm: Boogie Knights concert, where we’ll be taking audience requests (made before the concert) and debuting several new songs including one I wrote and will sing (Valley)
1-2pm: “Ten Years Later, Farscape Continues,” with Greg Cox and David Mack (Salon E)
3-4pm: “Star Trek: Corps of Engineers: Wounds,” with Ilsa J. Bick and Terri Osborne (Salon A)
4-5.30pm: “Star Trek: Mere Anarchy,” with Mike W. Barr, Christopher L. Bennett, Kevin Dilmore, Dave Galanter, Dayton Ward, and Howard Weinstein, where we’ll each be reading from one of the chapters in the tale (Salon B)
5.30-6.30pm: “The Chronic Rift Live Podcast,” with John S. Drew, and two others TBA, as we do an episode of the Rift live from Shore Leave (Tack)

What does Next-Gen MMO means? Anyone knows? I have looked online and there doesn’t seem to be a formal definition of what it entails. The only way I can learn what a Next-Gen MMO entails is comparing it with other games out there in development that use the same term. For example, Square Enix is working on a Next-Gen MMO. Final Fantasy XI team confirmed development on a new MMORPG for consoles and Windows Vista. This has been the self-definition I had thought all this time it could mean.

Knowing the bits I know of, my gut tells me the Next-Gen MMO might be StarCraft Ghost Online on PC/Consoles. Starcraft: Ghost was postponed, not cancelled—at a juncture where PS2 and XBox were to be displaced by PS3 and Xbox 360.

Microsoft unveiled XNA on March 14, 2006. A week later, on March 22, Blizzard announced development on StarCraft: Ghost had been postponed indefinitely.

Blizzard Entertainment Inc. today announced plans to focus the company’s console-development efforts on the next generation of console platforms. As part of this shift in focus, Blizzard(R) will indefinitely postpone production on StarCraft: Ghost(TM) while evaluating opportunities for utilizing the additional power of the new and upcoming console systems.

“Like many in the industry, we’ve been impressed with the potential of the new consoles, and we’re looking forward to exploring that potential further,” stated Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “In addition to allowing us to determine the best course for StarCraft: Ghost, this review period will help us lay the groundwork for our future console games.”

In the months ahead, Blizzard will further evaluate the next-gen console technology and determine the best plan of action for offering a StarCraft(R) console-gaming experience that meets the company’s expectations and those of its players. Further specifics on plans for StarCraft: Ghost and Blizzard’s future console games, as well as platform and release information, will be revealed at a later date.

On June 28, 2007—Rob Pardo said he hoped one day to return to Starcraft: Ghost.

On August 27, 2007—Rob Pardo hinted StarCraft: Ghost was not dead during an interview with GameDaily.biz.

On February 7, 2008, at the 2008 D.I.C.E., Blizzard presented a list of games the developers tackled and ultimately got cancelled. Games we didn’t even find out existed or were in development at the time. StarCraft: Ghost however eluded the list and was not present in the list of cancelled games.

Could it be StarCraft: Ghost is the Next-Gen MMO? Surely things look to be that way.

StarCraft Ghost: Academy (Tokyopop) and StarCraft Ghost: Spectres (Pocket Books) are scheduled for release on 2010. Leord told me yesterday that during his visit at the Blizzard Entertainment’s Headquarter last week it was said by a developer that Michael Liberty and Nova would be part of the StarCraft II single player.

It’s amazing how the manga and the books are so intertwined lorewise with the game and even between each of the printed format books. Just a few days ago, the Tokyopop editor revealed that the Dominion Senator’s telepath child from StarCraft: Frontline Vol. 3 War-Torn will also be a cast member in the StarCraft Ghost: Academy (Tokyopop).

I might be wrong all over again, but when I have a hunch, I go for it. A few years back, on March 19, 2005, I reported Dustin Browder had joined Blizzard Entertainment, and I posted my hunch … that Dustin had been hired to work on StarCraft II. Dustin was hired on March 14, 2005.

I also had the hunch Diablo III would be announced at the 2007 Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals. I’m not infallible, but my gut tells me StarCraft Ghost might be the Next-Gen MMO. And if true, it might be announced at 2009 BlizzCon. Hold your tomatoes until then, in case I phail miserably.

Note: I keep scratching my head at a comment from someone (I will keep anonymous) who told me a few months ago, with an interesting remark, the following: “2010 is the year of the Ghost”.

Keith R.A. DeCandido is attending the Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina this upcoming weekend (Father’s Day weekend) through June 19-21. You will find him at the BOOM! Studios booth (# 514 and # 613). Certainly, he is not there representing any of Blizzard’s pocket books, but he is very friendly and will welcome Blizzard fans. I met thim twice at the last two New York Comic Con events. Feel free to bring copies of World of WarCraft: Cycle and StarCraft: Ghost Nova to get those signed.

You can find the booth locations in the Charlotte Convention Center Hall blueprint (PDF).
Locations of interest around the Charlotte Convention Center here.

The Blizzcon Tickets are sold out. However, you still have a chance at winning a Free ticket to attend Blizzcon via Fansites Giveways courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard is very supportive to all the fansites under their flag. So take this very exciting opportunity. Beneath are all the fansites whose giveaway is still active. Participate in all of them to increase your chances at winning one. However, if you got two be honest and let them know. Good luck and see you at BlizzCon.

The Echoes of War: Music of Blizzard Entertainment was so very welcomed by fans that EMINENCE produced a new round of copies for sale. Pre-orders are now available with $ 5 discount savings if you do so before June 16th.

I wrote a review of this product a few months ago if you want to check out what this product contains. We had a giveaway of the Legendary Edition. The publisher EMINENCE will provide us new copies to giveaway to fans. Stay tuned for details on how to participate.

A few days ago, I gave you a heads up on the interviews and live chats planned for our community of fans who love the StarCraft lore in all its formats. First off, our interview with Simon Furman—writer of StarCraft # 1 (Wildstorm Comics) is in progress. We will post that as soon as it goes through the public relations process. While that gets back to us, this week we have the awesome live chat with the people behind StarCraft Frontline Vol. 3. Fans are welcome to come to our live chat with Tokyopop Editor Hope Donovan and the five StarCraft Frontline writers: Paul Benjamin, Dave Shramek, Grace Randolph, Ren Zatopek and Josh Elder. You are free to interact with all of them.

The live chat will happen this Thursday, May 28 at 1pm PDT (4pm New York, 9pm England, 10pm Paris). Simply visit the following page to join the chat that day.

Our next live chat will be on June 12 at 1pm PDT with our old buddie Keith R.A. DeCandido to talk about StarCraft Ghost: Academy scheduled to be on bookstores on January 2010. Hope to see you in the live chat. Stay tuned for any giveaways we may have for attendees.

Tokyopop is coming to BlizzCon and you will have some nice loot to take home. Warcraft Legends Vol. 5 will be available to you a month earlier at the event. The artist behind Warcraft Legends Vo. 3 and StarCraft Ghost: Academy—- Fernando Heinz Furukawa will draw sketches on the spot for fans. A projection preview of pages from StarCraft Ghost: Academy (due January 2010) and a gallery of Tokyopop Warcraft and Starcraft mangas. I will be there taking video and photos. Stay tuned to our BlizzCon 2009 coverage.

Blizzard Quote:

Blizzards gaming convention Blizzcon always attracts a lot of attention and fan fervor. So it was no surprise when only 28 minutes after the first installment of tickets went on sale over the weekend, they were sold out.

With the new queuing system in place over ten thousand people tried to get tickets for the event before purchasing was concluded at around 10:30 am PST.

For those of you who were unable to buy tickets in that first round and would like to join the festivities at Blizzcon 09. There will be a second set of tickets going on sale this Saturday, May 30th at 10 am PST once again. Wake up early, make some coffee, and get online to get your hands on this last batch of tickets before the show is totally sold out.

For those of you who do have tickets, your in for a treat. TOKYOPOP is pulling out all the stops. We will have artist Fernando Heinz Furukawa who has worked on Warcraft: Legends Vol’s 3 “Crusader’s Blood” and 4 “Bloodsail Buccaneer”. He is also the artist for our new trilogy StarCraft: Ghost Academy.

Fernando will be in our booth drawing images for the new upcoming StarCraft: Ghost Academy (coming out January 2010), which we will project for everyone to see. That will be happening 2-3 hours each day.

In addition to those 2-3 hours he will be drawing Blizzcon exclusive sketch cards for people who come to our booth for 2 additional hours each day. So be sure to stay tuned for further details and come get your exclusive art work.

People participating in the Brady Games Fishing Quest will be able to get an advanced copy of Warcraft Legends Vol. 5 (coming out in September 2009).

We will also have an art Gallery of our Warcraft and StarCraft manga art on-display in our booth, a Sexy Blood Elf Cut out for you to take your picture with, and much more!

So be sure to pick up your tickets and come visit us at the convention August 21st and 22nd.

TOKYOPOP posted a new article recently by Michael Paolilli – Production Artist—titled Michael’s Blizzard Blast, where he expresses his feelings working on the Blizzard mangas. He confesses he has been a Blizzard fan for a decade since the release of Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness, was hooked to StarCraft since 1998, and has a level 80 Hunter. It’s great to know that the people behind the books and the mangas are deeply involved in the universes prior to working on their printed projects. You can read his article at TOKYOPOP.

Blizzard Quote:

My name is Michael Paolilli, and I am Production Artist here at TOKYOPOP. I put together all of the books we produce here, in particular the Blizzard titles Warcraft and StarCraft. I am also the Creative Consultant on those titles.

It is because of those two facts that I am writing to you today, to give you a small glimpse at the work behind our books.

First I will start with a little background. I have been a HUGE fan of Blizzard’s games since back in the mid to late 90’s when i got my hands on Warcraft 2. But the game I really fell in love with was StarCraft, and Blizzard has had me hooked ever since. When we here at TOKOYPOP relaunched our Blizzard co-pub program back in 2008 I jumped at the chance to not only continue, but be a part of our work on these best selling series.

Recently we reported that Rob Pardo confirmed that Blizzard and Microsoft are talking about the Xbox 360 successor. They want Microsoft to learn from Nintendo. During the Luminaries Lunch at the GDC 2009, Junction Point’s Warren Spector slashed at Rob Pardo with mockery … “I

Rob Pardo confirmed at the GDC 2009 that Blizzard Entertainment and Microsoft are talking about the Xbox 360 successor. And by the looks of it they want its successor to have a keyboard and mouse peripherals and tools to allow MMO and RTS gameplay on consoles. The potential is enormous. Imagine World of Warcraft, Starcraft: Ghost, Starcraft II and even Diablo III on PC and Consoles. It is the culprit of the Next-Gen MMO no doubt.

The future is looking brighter for Blizzard and all its millions of fans if Microsoft can pull the right cards off its sleeve and places them into the table to make it possible.

Blizzard Quote:

Rob Pardo: “There are are so many games like we make at Blizzard that we don’t take to consoles because they don’t support the input device, and you end up with crappy ports. That’s why RTS games never do well on consoles,” he said.

“If I was them, I’d be sitting around trying to figure out what’s a cool input device that supports all types of new kinds of games.”—read more

Recently, Blizzard Entertainment added two job openings under the category titled Unannounced. I wrote an article about it a few days ago. We have now a few interesting bits concerning these job openings for a unannounced game.

Update: March 24—The job openings mentioned in this newspost is indeed a brand-new game that has not been mentioned before.

1. This brand-new game is not a World of Warcraft expansion, and it is not related to the Next-Gen MMO.

2. In the present, the brand-new game is using the World of Warcraft engine merely for testing purposes.

3. The Client Software Engineer job opening is to hire the person that will have the responsibility to develop an engine from scratch for this game. This new engine will be built depending on the skill and interest of the person hired for this position.

Whether this game is based on the three major franchises (Warcraft, Starcraft or Diablo) or a new IP, that remains unknown.

We encourage our readers who have the skills and fill the requirements for this job to step forward and submit a resume and code samples to [email protected].

Starcraft 2 is closer than ever my brothers … BATTLENET 2.0 HAS BEEN LAUNCHED. IT IS OFFICIAL. You can now sign up to create a battle.net 2.0 account. Enter a good standing email address—probably non-gmail nor one that has given you issues before with beta signups. Then you will receive an email verification to your inbox. Accept it by clicking the link emailed to you.

Once done, you have the option to merge your World of Warcraft account to the Battle.net 2.0 service. This merge cannot be reverted. Once you have merged your world of warcraft account, your old username and password are void. You will login into your World of Warcraft account and login into the game using your Battle.net 2.0 account login.

This is something to be EXCITED about guys. Starcraft II beta is upon us any minute. And that means Blizzplanet will giveaway some beta keys away courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment very soon. Stay tuned for any contests or giveaways.

Keith R.A. DeCandido and Aaron Rosenberg are attending the 2009 Lunacon to take place at Rye Brook, New York. The event will be held through March 20-22. Keith R.A. DeCandido is author of World of Warcraft: Cycle of Hatred. Aaron Rosenberg is author of World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness and co-writer of World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal.

Their scheduled programming doesn’t involve any Blizzard product discussion, but if you are planning to attend Lunacon, they would be glad to meeting you and signing your Warcraft and Starcraft books. One of Aaron’s scheduled panels is Tribute to Gygax.Description: The biggest name in the development of roleplaying games, and one of the few recognizable names in a low-profile field, Gygax was always a lightning rod for many people’s views about gaming, both from inside and outside the field. A look back at Gygax’s life and influence on the field..

Keith has an interesting panel titled From Book to Film: Description: Why do some books make great movie adaptations, while others fail utterly? What are the problems inherent on moving between the two media? How do you make a book into a great film?

I rarely post news outside the Blizzard games scope, but I thought this one was very interesting to share with Mac and Linux Blizzard gamers. Codeweaver—developer of the CrossOver Games—announced their roadmap for 2009 highlighted by their support of DirectX 10 right out of the box.—Full Article.

We’ve just shipped a lot of those ‘under the hood’ improvements for games out in CrossOver Games 7.2. We’re really pushing Direct X 9 support pretty far along, and getting ready to move on Direct X 10.

In the next few months, we’ll be shipping CrossOver Linux 8.0, and CrossOver Mac 8.0. That revision of our flagship product will bring support for IE7, modern QuickBooks versions, Quicken 2009 (at a nice speed), Photoshop CS3, and many many other improvements, particularly around Microsoft Office and specifically Outlook. —via Slashdot

We were at the New York Comic Con 2009 to bring you videos of the event. Today, you can watch the book signing session held at the Tokyopop booth where Blizzard Entertainment Senior VP of Creative Development Chris Metzen and the Senior Writer & Voice Director Micky Neilson joined book writers Keith R.A. DeCandido (Starcraft Ghost: Academy), Josh Elder (StarCraft: Frontline Vol. 1) and Grace Randolph (Starcraft Frontline Vol. 2) to meet and greet fans.

At the end of video # 2 you will see Chris Metzen, Micky Neilson signing the Starcraft Comic Book Posters exclusively for our giveaway to fans. They are also signed by the manga writers. If you want the opportunity to win one of these signed posters follow the link to participate.

If you were at the event, you will probably have great memories to share with your friends and guildmates. Enjoy.

Our network site, IncGamers, got the MASSIVE breaking news that WoW Lead Producer Jeff Kaplan has moved away from the World of Warcraft team to focus all his time and effort on the Blizzard Entertainment’s unannounced Next-Gen MMO.

He will still be participating in certain WoW development decisions, but his new tasks will keep him busy on the development of the next-gen MMO. This brings a lot of speculation vibe to it. Why reveal he’s moved to the next-gen MMO team? Why now? Fans wouldn’t have even figured out he was missing except for the BlizzCast Q&As that aren’t released so often.

Will there be a new Blizzcon this year? Are we witnessing hints of an impending game announcement this year?

Will this Next-Gen MMO be a resurrected Starcraft: Ghost game? The game was postponed, not canceled. It is quite possible. Back on Blizzcon 2005, fans played Starcraft: Ghost multiplayer. It looked more like an MMO than a console game. Another possible hint this game could resurface is the four Starcraft: Ghost printed-format books in development. Simon & Schuster’s Pocket Star Books will publish Starcraft Ghost: Spectre by the end of 2009. Keith R.A. DeCandido has written around four chapters thus far.

Tokyopop will publish a manga trilogy titled Starcraft Ghost: Academy, aimed to be released throughout 2010. The Year of the Ghost. Speculations, speculations. Don’t we love that time of the year when Blizzard itches to tell something is being brewed in their headquarters?

Will it be a Starcraft MMO or Diablo MMO? It would be hard to tell. Back on 2002, two games were in development parallel to each other: World of Warcraft and Warcraft III. Both games tied up lorewise with the introduction of the Night Elves, Tauren, Undead races and the Kalimdor and Northrend continents.

Starcraft 2 is now developed to be three separate episodes of around 30 maps each. This could be seen as expanding the lore to introduce an MMO. On the other side, we have Diablo 3. It hasn’t been revealed if it will be split into episodes, but last year it was revealed that the storyline in Diablo 3 wouldn’t be the end. The Creative Development Team has plenty of story to tell beyond Diablo 3. Whether that is via expansions or … coughs … a Next-Gen MMO, that remains to be seen.

Keep your eyes open through the summer for any Blizzard Worldwide Invitationals or Blizzcon announcements. It could very well mean the unveiling of the mysterious Next-Gen MMO. Big thumbs up to Jeff Kaplan and his team. Make us proud and make the best MMO experience possible.

Many Blizzard fans attended the 2009 New York Comic Con for the opportunity to meet the thundergod Chris Metzen (Senior VP of Creative Development) and Micky Neilson (Senior Writer & Voice Director) during the Simon & Schuster book signing session.

There were a lot of happy fans handing over their copies of World of Warcraft: Night of the Dragon, the Comic Book Vol. 1 hardcover, even the Wrath of the Lich King Collector’s Edition Art Book. I remember one of the fans brought the wall-mounting accessory of the Frostmourne sword replica to be signed. It was a fun experience to both Alliance and Horde players; and the developers were quite satisfied and passionate about the fans’ reactions.

Blizzplanet and WorldofWar.net was there to interview both Blizzard developers, and to record most of the book signing session. Below you can watch all three videos.

On Saturday, February 7th—Chris Metzen and Micky Neilson attended the 2009 New York Comic Con for a book signing session at the Simon & Schuster booth (1402). Thanks to Jaime Costas from the Pocket Star Books publisher; Shon Damron and Rob Tokar from Blizzard Entertainment’s Public Relations Department an interview was scheduled at the event.

Chris Metzen and Micky Neilson answered lore questions based on the StarCraft and World of WarCraft pocket star books for a length of 24 minutes. I split the video into two parts. This interview is packed with a lot of fun, spoilery and informative answers to various concerns from scenes that happened in Starcraft: The Dark Templar Saga, Warcraft: The Last Guardian, World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal, the Warcraft RPG Books, and World of Warcraft: Night of the Dragon. And a massive influx of info about the upcoming books—World of Warcraft: Arthas, Rise of the Lich King (April 21), Starcraft: The Dark Templar, Twilight (June 30), World of Warcraft: Stormrage (2010) and Starcraft Ghost: Spectre (2010).

After watching this video interview, you are going to faint, and wake up with only one thought in mind: “you CAN’T MISS reading one of these pocket star books !!!” Guaranteed. These books tie-in deeply into the events of the World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and could we dare to say … future expansions?

Video Part 2

Transcript

Medievaldragon: This is Medievaldragon from Blizzplanet and WorldOfWar.net. We are here to interview Chris Metzen, Senior Vice President of Creative Development for Blizzard Entertainment and Micky Neilson, Senior Writer and Voice Director of Blizzard Entertainment. I picked up some questions from the Community about Pocket Books lore. We’ll start with the Starcraft questions first.

Medievaldragon: Ulrezaj is composed of 7 dark templars according to Starcraft: The Dark Templar Saga, but only composed of 4 in the Enslavers 2 Episode 5B: Dark Vengeance. could you fill us in on how that happened?

Metzen: Essentially we just made a call. Originally, I think in the Enslavers campaign it was 4, but Enslavers has always been kind of quasi-canonical. There was a lot of new fiction developed for Enslavers that we thought was really cool, but as we were developing this trilogy with Christie we knew we wanted to bring Ulrezaj back, which was kind of a cool idea, but we felt that going to 7 was better for the fiction in general. It kind of gave us more options to dig his origin out, who were all these arch-criminals that comprised him, so we felt that going with 7 just felt a little rounder. So… that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Medievaldragon: Does the Umojan Protectorate and Kel-morian Combine have their own versions of the Ghost program, or is it exclusive to the Confederates and the Dominion?

Neilson: I like that question.

Metzen: Kill it!

Neilson: My answer would be that they do, and that it’s something a little bit different, something we haven’t seen yet, and something that we should definitely investigate in the future in the fiction, because it sounds like a really cool idea.

Metzen: That sounds like a dare right there.

Neilson: That’s right.

Medievaldragon: Will the Terrazine gas plot be explored in the upcoming Starcraft Ghost: Spectre book?

Metzen: Well the Terrazine and its significance to the “alleged” Ghost spectres is definitely handled in the upcoming novel Starcraft Ghost: Spectre by Decandidio. Decandido, pardon me. Sorry Keith! We definitely get into what Terrazine is, what it’s used for, and I would bet, wink wink, that we might see a bit of that play out in Starcraft 2 as well.

Neilson: Yes…

Metzen: Yes indeed.

Medievaldragon: Can we expect a sequel to Starcraft: Queen of Blades? We are missing the period between the Overmind’s invasion of Aiur and Tassadar’s sacrifice.

Neilson: Official announcement? I don’t know what’s official and what isn’t as far as…

Metzen: We’ve been working on an outline, we call it… well I’ll just say it. We call it Heir to Adun is the title of that possible novel. We’ve done a number of outline treatments on it to really dig out Tassadar’s story, and Tassadar’s nature as this kind of Twilight Messiah for the protoss people. What was really going on there at the fall of Aiur, and really digging out all the political things that were happening with the Conclave, and the Judicators, and the Templar. We definitely have a rocking story built for a novel, but we don’t have any plans yet on exactly when we would publish it or I don’t even know if we have a writer lined up yet, but we have an awesome outline for it.

Medievaldragon: Yeah, we have been expecting it for a while. (laughing) I know it takes time.

Metzen: If I had my way it would have been out already.

Neilson: It’s going to be a little while

Medievaldragon: Okay, we’re going to move to the Warcraft questions.

Medievaldragon: A fan asked: The body of Sargeras that Aegwynn killed was said to be an avatar in Warcraft: The Last Guardian, does this mean that Sargeras’ real body is still out there somewhere? Or is Sargeras pulling a Lord Voldemort trick to ensure his return?

Neilson: Sargeras is still kicking around. You can’t put him down.

Metzen: He’s out there somewhere.

Neilson: He’s not going to stay down for long.

Metzen: Yeah totally. And I think the hooks we had for his physical body, wherever it may be are so visually stunning that I think we have to… it’s like low hanging fruit, we’re going to have to bring him back somewhere. I’d be very disappointed in us if we didn’t leverage him fully.

Medievaldragon: He would be like the ultimate encounter.

Neilson: Hmm… yes.

Medievaldragon: In The Last Guardian, Medivh attacks Garona with a spell, saying “let me show you my world Garona. Let me drive my own divisions and doubts into you. You will never know who you serve and why. You’ll never find your peace.” This is most commonly seen by fans as Sargeras cursing Garona into betraying everyone she works for… Is this true? Is that why she has been missing all these years?

Neilson: As to what’s going on with Garona, we’re launching into the second arc of the WoW comic. There are going to be a LOT of questions answered regarding Garona… why she did what she did, her whole backstory. It all ties into Med’an, this new character, who’s going to be really important to the lore. So for the community to learn a lot more about Garona, they should definitely check out the comic book.

Medievaldragon: Will there be a follow-up in the pocket books at some point?

Neilson: For Garona? Maybe.

Metzen: I didn’t hear… a cameo within a book?

Neilson: Not out of the question, I’m sure.

Metzen: Yeah, I think we’re still feeling it out. We just recently started leveraging the character again, so there’s a lot of interest in the character, so I can see us getting [cut off]

[Plays a scene from warcraft 3 of Arthas approaching the Revenants blocking the path to Frostmourne]

Guardian: Turn back mortals. Death and Darkness are all that await you in this forsaken vault.

Arthas: I doubt there’s anything down here more terrifying than what we’ve faced already.

Guardian: Believe what you will, boy. You shall not pass.

[after fight]

Guardian: Turn away… before it’s… too late.

Arthas: Still trying to protect the sword are you?

Guardian: No… trying to protect you… from it.

Medievaldragon: What were the Revenants’ motives to care for Arthas’ fate? Will it be explained in World of Warcraft: Arthas, Rise of the Lich King?

Medievaldragon: In World of Warcraft: Night of the Dragon, we see a glimpse of Malygos proposing to the Wyrmrest Accord the purge of the mages prior to the Nexus War. Kalecgos departs to Outland at the end of the book. What’s Kalecgos’ stance with the Nexus War?

Metzen: Interesting. I think Kalecgos is loyal, he’s a blue dragon. Their function is to kind of police mortals’ use of magic, so to some degree he wants to do what Malygos wants him to do. He’s loyal, he’s a team player, but I also think that Kalecgos has a huge heart. I think he has a deep conscience, and I think he’s terrified of how these things have just spun out of control, and I think he regrets the loss of life and probably looks at it as a totally heavy handed solution to the problem, so I think he’s probably a little torn.

Neilson: And he’s spent a lot of time with mortals at this point too. He’s grown close to some mortals with the whole Anveena thing and everything else, so he would definitely be torn. His feelings would be torn.

Medievaldragon: He was a bit arrogant at the beginning, but his experience with Anveena kind of softened him.

Neilson: Absolutely.

Metzen: Right, kind of drew him closer to the experience of mortals. Totally.

Medievaldragon: Now that Malygos is dead, will there be a new Aspect of Magic (such as Kalecgos); or is that position gone forever? Could a dragon of another flight become the magic aspect… temporarily… for example: Krasus… who is an Archmage?

Metzen: I would say to question A: (slowly motions with his lips toward the poster of the World of Warcraft: Arthas book).

Neilson: (laughing)

Metzen: And to question B, I would say no.

Medievaldragon: Okay… I kind of gotcha…

(all laughing)

Medievaldragon: What can you tell us about the upcoming Worlf of Warcraft: Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak?

Neilson: Stormrage is gonna be fantastic. What’s really cool about Stormrage is that we will be able to actually live the Nightmare, through this book, that’s going on in the Emerald Dream turning into the Emerald Nightmare. One of the coolest elements, in my opinion, is that the nightmare is starting to spread into Azeroth, and we’re going to touch on that in the manga as well, so we’re going to have a story that touches on, for instance, what is King Magni’s worst nightmare? And because the Nightmare is spreading into the reality of Azeroth, we’ll be able to see that. The book’s going to be fantastic, answers all kinds of questions, what’s been happening to Malfurion, what’s going on, who’s behind it… al those questions are going to be answered.

Metzen: I would just say too, I mean Malfurion’s always been, personally, my favorite Warcraft hero. He’s my favorite to write, so I’ve waited a long time to get this guy back into the mix, and have him play a significant role in the shaping of Azeroth. He’s a mega player, and he’s been off the scene.

Neilson: For a long time.

Metzen: I’m really stoked on this book. We really designed the essential backbone of the book to be just hyper Druid overload. If you’re a WoW Druid, this book’s for you. It features all the major druid characters, and players. I love it. Love it, love it.

(Video Part 2 Transcript)

Medievaldragon: Will there be a cameo of Jarod Shadowsong in World of Warcraft: Stormrage? The official website’s encyclopedia says he departed the druids and was never seen again.

Metzen: I don’t remember. For some reason, I don’t think so. But we would be lovingly surprised if he did. He doesn’t play a significant role in it.

Medievaldragon: Aaron Rosenberg’s World of Warcraft: Tides of Darkness helps modernize a lot of the lore revolving around Warcraft II. One aspect of the lore that fans have been wondering about, is Gilneas. Was Gilneas scheduled to make an appearance in that book, but had to be trimmed out, or will Gilneas be revisited in future books?

(Neilson grins at Metzen)

Metzen: Ah, ah, I would say we have some very, very, Very interesting plans for Gilneas. (Metzen docks slightly looking toward the ceiling) But there are snipers up in the roof that would shoot me if you know … (everyone laughs). We are doing some awesome stuff for Gilneas.

Neilson: … stay tuned!

Metzen: Stay tuned.

Medievaldragon: World of Warcraft: Beyond the Dark Portal reveals Cho’gall was killed. Or was he? How did the Twilight’s Hammer survive the Broken Isles’ massacre?

Neilson: Cho’gall is gonna make a come back. He’s not dead. You are going to see he will play a large role in the second arc of the World of Warcraft comic book. So, exactly how he survived … he’s just too tough. Two axes to the chest weren’t enough to take him down. He just appeared dead. (Laughs)

Metzen: Mostly.

Medievaldragon: If he is not decapitated, he is not dead.

Neilson: That’s right.

Metzen: That’s right.

Medievaldragon: (jokingly) … and that doesn’t mean he can’t return. Somebody plugs the head back to his body and …

Metzen: Necromancers.

Neilsen: Necromancers.

(Everyone laughs)

Medievaldragon: What’s happening to Blood Elf culture (especially Rommath’s role in it) now that the Sunwell was restored with M’uru?

Metzen: What we showed at the end of Burning Crusade, like during the whole Sunwell event, was that the warped naaru M’uru was kinda transformed back into his purest self, purest light that Velen used to reignite the Sunwell, as a fountain of Holy power, as much as it is arcane. So the suggestion was that over time the Blood Elves will start to actually use real Light power, in a healthy way, instead of dominating it. So what will likely happen over time is a slow transition, but what Velen did was give them a chance to redeem their civilization, a chance to get back to their roots, a chance to upset their magical addiction. So that kinda thing will probably gonna play out very slowly. We didn’t talk much about it in Wrath of the Lich King, but it is a theme I love a lot, but it has to be played out very slow.

Medievaldragon: I like that aspect of redeeming them … Does that mean that at some point they are going to get back to their roots and restore the Council of Tirisfal?

Metzen: ha-ha! … no … comment.

Medievaldragon: Are we ever seeing the Scythe of Elune questline and how it all tied into Karazhan and the Dark Riders explored in a future pocket book?

Metzen: I will say there are elements of the Scythe of Elune questline that are not … over … (long silence).

Neilson: (laughs)

Metzen: … (longer silence) Alright, that’s all I’m saying. (laughs)

Woah, WOAH! (Metzen jokingly makes a motion with his hands and legs as if tight-rope walking).

(Everyone laughs)

Medievaldragon: Quick sand! Quick sand!

(laughs)

Medievaldragon: Is the existence of Finnal Goldensword canon? She’s Admiral Proudmoore’s half-elf daughter. If so, are there plans to introduce her in the pocket books?

Metzen: I’m sure this will be controversial, but I don’t necessarily consider her canonical. And based on that, we don’t really have any plans to use her in the future. I think she appeared in one of the Warcraft RPG books. It’s not a character I have thought out about, so at this point I’m not sure if we are gonna do much with her.

Medievaldragon: World of Warcraft: Arthas, Rise of the Lich King will devote a portion of its time to the love triangle between Arthas, Jaina and Kael’thas. Now, many of us have played Warcraft III and have also run Gnomeregan, so, we’ve got to ask … Where does Thrall factor in?

I’m not quite sure of what that questions means.

Neilson: Well, I think they are wondering: Is there a romantic interest between Thrall and Jaina? I think that’s what it’s implying.

Metzen: Ohh …

Medievaldragon: Not sure—why they are asking about Gnomeregan.

Metzen: Yea, it’s worded a little weird. Well, I would say the whole Kael’thas, Arthas, Jaina triangle thing is totally handled in the book. And it’s R-r-really good! But it explains the whole relationship, and how that all went down. Christie just handled it perfectly. So I’m excited to really see that. But relative, the question was, is there a little you know … green fever going on with Thrall and Jaina? umm … (takes deep breath) … I don’t know, I know people are kinda fascinated a little about that but …

Neilson: (laughs)

Medievaldragon: Ohh … I know now what they meant. In Gnomeregan, there was a punch card in binary code that when you decoded it, it reads: “Thrall and Jaina in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G.”

Neilson: Ohhh!

Metzen: Right, right. I don’t know, I would say I try to be pretty conservative with all that stuff. I would like Thrall to settle down with a nice green girl…

Neilson: (laughs louder)

Metzen: …you know, and have little green babies. I’d like the dynasty of Orgrimmar to be pure blood, right. But you never know. I hope he keeps things together and doesn’t do something stupid before we can actually build this stuff in the game. So … you know Thrall.

Medievaldragon: Hormones …

Metzen: What’re we gonna do.

Medievaldragon: What should we expect in World of Warcraft: Arthas and how does it ties-in with the game?

Neilson: I think one of the things that are really, really amazing about ARTHAS the book is … you play Classic WoW, right, so the whole time you are running around. The Lich King is basically sitting there on his throne. So the question is: What’s going on? What’s going through his head? So this book actually gets you inside his head during that time. You will find out what was going on. Really be able to get inside the mind of evil. Getting inside the mind of Arthas. Find out what makes him tick. Even when he was saying things to Uther, when he disbanded the paladins, and things like that. Really gonna go indepth on that to find out what was going on inside his head. All the layers. Christie did a great job putting in all these different layers of what’s happening. So there’s the dialogue that we heard in the game, but there is much more deeper story that you won’t get unless you read the book.

Keith R.A. DeCandido gave me a heads up of some details of his upcoming Starcraft Ghost: Nova sequel which he posted in his blog. The pocket book sequel will tie-in with the Starcraft II plot introducing a backstory of the Spectre ghosts unit. The novel will have elements from the postponed FPS console game, the way the canned Warcraft Adventures was novelized. The pocket book title is Starcraft Ghost: Spectres.

Keith: “It’s pretty much official at this point, since Pocket’s made an offer to my agent that I’ve accepted, and Blizzard likes 90% of the outline: barring a major disaster, I will be writing a sequel to my StarCraft: Ghost novel Nova. Tentatively pencilled in to be published in the summer of 2009 (though it isn’t formally scheduled yet, so that could very easily change), the novel will be called Spectres, and will pick up where Nova left off.

(I really hope it is published in summer 2009, as that’s when the Ghost Academy manga is scheduled to debut also….)

In some ways, this will be a novelization of StarCraft: Ghost, the game-that-never-was. Nova was written to be a prequel to the game, and the plot of Spectres will include many elements of what was to be in the game. Having said that, don’t read this novel expecting to see exactly what the game would’ve been like. The game plot is, at best, a loose basis for the novel. We went for what worked best for the overall storyline in general and for this novel in particular, rather than fidelity to a game that will probably never see the light of day.

It will also tie into both Ghost Academy (which will take place alongside Chapters 18-19 of Nova) and to the forthcoming StarCraft II game. Nova will be in both, obviously, and another character in both the manga and the novel is a major player in the upcoming game. Oh, and Agent Malcolm Kelerchian will be returning in Spectres as well.

According to GameInformer Magazine Online Staff Jeff Cork, Blizzard showed a slide presentation at D.I.C.E. in Las Vegas talking about the games Blizzard has discarded such as Warcraft Adventures. An elusive game all of us wanted released and that was thought dead was missing from the slide presentation … Starcraft: Ghost. GameInformer immediately approached Frank Pearce to squeeze out the reason Starcraft: Ghost wasn’t part of the list of cancelled games … find out what he replied here.

Starcraft: Ghost isn’t dead.

Kotaku also posted the list of games that Blizzard cancelled and no one ever knew were in development:

Games People Play

Crixa

Shattered Nations

Pax Imperia

Denizen

Warcraft Adventures

Nomad

Raiko

Strangely, there is a cancelled game that doesn’t show up in that list … Diablo II: Salvation which shows up in the abandoned Blizzard trademarks dating 2003.

Gamespot has a lengthy article covering the D.I.C.E. event with quotes from Mike Morhaime and a few screenshots.

Julian Kwasneski started his career in game audio at LucasArts Entertainment Company, and is credited with sound design on several leading LucasArts titles. After leaving the company in 2000, he co-founded The Bay Area Sound Department with Clint Bajakian. Julian has worked on many award-winning game titles, including Starcraft: Ghost, James Bond: Everything or Nothing, Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Star Wars: Jedi Outcast, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and SOCOM: Navy Seals. His consistent sound design has been critically acclaimed by ign.com, epigamer.com, gamezone.com, Computer Gaming World, gamepro.com and others. He also has many independent film credits, including sound design for Big Love (Sundance 2000), The Upgrade (Mill Valley Film Festival 2000), and The Last Birthday Card. He has worked extensively with wireless and Internet audio technologies.

1. How much of an influence was the original StarCraft soundtrack on your work? Did Chris Metzen guide you along the production?

A lot. We are all so familiar with the sounds of the RTS that it would be criminal not to base sounds on those. Still, this is a different type of game, so you can expect to hear a lot of cool new things.

2. Will StarCraft: Ghost have specific soundtrack themes per race, and scenario-based themes?

I am not doing the music, but the ambiences are totally immersive so the player will really feel like they are “in the Space” in each of the locations.

3. Which game out of all of the games you’ve worked on, have you enjoyed creating the most or fills you with satisfaction the most?

I liked Knights of the Old Republic for the diversity of the locations and I loved creating ambiences for the different worlds. Grim Fandango was also very satisfying ambient work (I worked on the ambient beds with my partner Clint Bajakian). Jedi Outcast was cool too and of course, Ghost was a nice new challenge for me.

4. Do you reuse/recycle the old sounds from previous games where applicable, or do you start all sounds of a game from scratch?

On the Star Wars titles I’ve worked on, I always build upon the awesome sounds created by Ben Burtt and I will use the classic sounds from the films as elements to create new sounds. In some cases though, I need to start from scratch if there isn’t sufficient source sound from the movies. For example, while a certain vehicle may only make a brief appearance in a film, it may be a featured vehicle in a game. In these cases I need to recreate the vehicle sounds from scratch. Another example is the Ebon Hawk in Knights of the Old Republic. It is similar to the Millennium Falcon, but it’s way bigger and beefier. I took the Falcon sounds, added new elements like V8 motors, dragsters and thunder and created a similar but different vehicle sound.

5. How did you make those Zerg sounds, do you swallow something and yell; or are they animal sounds added and mixed with some other sounds?

I didn’t actually, these were done by Derek Duke and the Blizzard sound gang and they did an awesome job.

6. Who are the composer(s) of all the songs in Starcraft: Ghost and their career background(if available)?

Kevin Manthei

7. I assume you are involved in both voice sound editing, and sound effects of Starcraft: Ghost from what I have heard. Are you backed up by more people? Or is this a solo job?

I am doing the majority of the sound design though Derek Duke and the sound team at Blizzard have done an awesome job on all the creature sounds and many other sound effects.

8. I was wondering this one when I looked upon that Goliath model. How on Earth did you go about getting sounds for something that huge? It is hard to “recreate” I guess.

We’re still working on it, but I drew upon large machinery and hydraulics recordings and thunderous metallic foot impacts. It’s really fun to drive!

1.Hardware, what do you use? I am dying to know. We got many Sound Editing fans from a Modding Guild at WC3Campaigns, BlizzSCUMS and SAVAGE(Star Alliance) who may want to learn more from your expertise.

I am all Mac-based using a Digidesign Pro Tools TDM system with loads of plugins including everything from Waves as well and Kantos, Pitch’n Time, Bias Peak, etc. In my opinion, Digi is the only way to go. Expensive, yes. But you step into any major studio on the planet and you’ll see Pro Tools. It’s rock solid and sounds incredible.

2. Voice acting, do you normally get a batch of wave files from Blizzard studio and they want you to work with those?

Yes. I will get large batches of edited voice files and will process them to sound the way they should. I have different processes for each group of characters…the Marines sound one way, radio briefings sound another and Nova has a sound all her own.

3. What hardware do you use for voice editing?

I use Pro Tools to get the regions (files) in the ball park. Sometimes this means adding a little EQ or compression or simply a global gain change to get them to healthy levels. Then I use Bias Peak to trim them nice and tight and for the final mastering.

4. What hardware do you use for recording sounds? Do you actually go out into the wild outdoors and record stuff?

I use a Tascam DA-P1 DAT deck to do mobile recording with a variety of mics depending on what I’m doing. I absolutely get outdoors and record things. The only way to get a game to sound unique is to use unique sounds. We’ve all heard most of those library sounds a few times now and though they have their place, I like to roll my own.

5. In Starcraft: Ghost, How much of sound effects are computer generated? And how much are real recordings? Elaborate.

Some of the Protoss sounds are synth generated or some kind of other processing like granular synthesis, etc. The vast majority of what I’ve done to-date have been real-world sounds.

1. What do you use for sound editing, voice editing and music editing? (Software wise)

Digidesign Pro Tools and Bias Peak are my main tools. I use them for everything.

1. Are you in any sort of sound editors organization? Let the Starcraft Modding Sound Editors(fans) know more about it in detail.

I am a member of GANG, the Game Audio Network Guild (www.audiogang.org); but other than that, I am honestly just too busy to get involved in a lot of different organizations (though I’d love to).

1. I think we would all die to know the exact specs of some of the Starcraft: Ghost voice effects. (This is probably restricted?)

Not much to tell. Blizzard hired some real pros, they just do what they do and have great creative direction.

2. How do you go about just cleaning up and preparing for recording a simple humanoid voice? Mention examples(units–Marines, Templar, Zealot, etc.):

I didn’t record the voice, Blizzard handled that.

3. How do you get realistic effects? I doubt you bang pots and pans together.

I record things that make the types of sounds I want and combine them. It takes a lot of trial and error and often you have to leave something and come back to it if it’s just not working. It’s kind of like music….like a guitar solo. When you’re ripping a lead, your mind is slightly ahead of where you are playing. You know where you want to go and how you want that note to sound….when it happens, you go, “Ahhhh, that’s it”. Sound is the same. I see an animation and I instantly know how it should sound. The tough part is matching what’s in my head. That’s where experience comes in handy. Like a chef who knows what two things make a nice spicy sauce, I have my bag of tricks. Still, there’s often nothing better than a fresh take on something. I often run my sounds by friends and colleagues.

1. Any internet sites with forums you can recommend that contain all your sound guys, from where we can learn and interact, even talk to for advice?

Check out GANG, the Game Audio Network Guild. If it’s not there, you will find out where to look for it.

Advice on how to make it into the industry

2. I hear that you did not have a specific College education for this line of work. How exactly did you get in then? How can a young guy, like any of the fans, make it into LucasArt, BioWare and Blizzard? –This is to show fans that they don’t need to spend thousands on a College degree to be a professional in the industry. You are the role model with a great career and testimony. All you need is the talent and the guts.

Oh boy…well…there is nothing that prepares you for life like a college education. But you are correct, I did not study sound design or anything related to it. In Junior High and High School I played with synths and ganged tape decks together to make my own poor man’s multi-track recorder. In college I was in a band (and still am to this day) with my cousin and we did all kinds of sequencing. I also saw many films and would notice the details of the sound. When I graduated I worked for several Real Estate developers and was miserable. I was a stock broker with Merrill Lynch for a year, got my series 7 license and I was miserable. I even went to law school briefly and was also miserable. I ended up getting a waiting/bartending job and pursued my passion at the time which was recording, mixing and playing music.

I worked in several studios (for free) to get exposure. I bought a bunch of gear and recorded bands on my own. I wanted a job at Lucasarts and eventually found my way in as a temp in product support. I quickly advanced and got hired into the Voice department and from there, the Sound department where I absorbed everything I could. I’m sure I am being too modest so I should add that I obviously had some talent and a good ear. I kept working on numerous titles before leaving to form my own company with Clint Bajakian who was a real pioneer in game audio and a mentor of mine while at Lucasarts. I really enjoyed working there, but I wanted more variety…and I got it. You know what they say, be careful what you ask for….

2. If you could go back, how would you have changed your approach to getting into the industry?

Hmmmm…..I don’t look back. I am happy with everything I got to experience, the good and the bad.

3. Will recent technologies influence how to get noticed? Is internet a good way? Or maybe game developers hardly need new fresh sound engineers anymore, because they have all they need with Veteran engineers?

Just be persistent and get good with whatever tools you can get your hands on. I scored all the cinematics for Outlaws with a 4 channel Deck system on a Mac Quadra 650. You need to really push sometimes, and you may not always get paid….but if you stick to it, and you’re good, you’ll make it.

4. Do game designers find you, or do you find game designers in this phase of your career? Who contacts who?

Both really. I am fortunate to be friends with a lot of my clients. Sound is really a collaborative art to me and I enjoy the back and forth that often results in a great soundtrack. I am not one of those sound guys who knows everything and who take complete ownership. I’ll stand my ground when I need to, but you never know when that next brilliant idea will get suggested.

5. Have you ever considered writing some tutorials on getting started in sound creation? The web is strangely silent on the topic.

Yes, but it’s a lot of work and I tend to work 60+ hour weeks and I like to see my wife and son from time to time.

1. Do you even have time for fun things with all this work. I hear you are working on 6 games at the moment!

It’s all fun and I am lucky to be doing what I love to do. I am also lucky in that I work in my own studio, free from water coolers and senseless meetings. If I work a 10 hour day, it’s 9.5 hours of pure sound work. It also doesn’t hurt to be in a company with other people to share the heavy lifting. Still, I am pretty particular about what I am after and often can only get the sound I want by doing it myself.

2. Do you have a lot of competition in the business?

Absolutely and it keeps getting more intense. But I should add that a lot of the competition are my friends. I don’t play dirty pool…you win some, you lose some. It’s a business at the end of the day.

3. Why haven’t movie directors contacted you more often?

Movie directors don’t often play games. They also don’t move in the same circles game audio people are in (GDC, E3, etc)…though this is changing. I have done sound for quite a few short or independent films, but game audio is interesting in one respect. The skills we game audio folk rely on to score games are directly applicable to doing film work but it is not the same in reverse. While there are a lot of people who do both game and movie sound, most of the film people I have worked with had a tough time with the technical limitations of games. Short loops, 28 sample boundaries, memory budgets, sample rate conversion and the lack of a consistent linear playback can be overwhelming, even for those of us who do this every day. I should add that I like doing game sound. I like the challenges and I like the payoffs. If I wanted to do film sound, I would do film sound.

4. Have you ever done a voice acting yourself or played a role as an actor? 🙂

Only in small roles, like a single line for a computer or something. My recorded voice sucks!

5. Have you ever checked out the modding of games, and what do you think of their sound level?

To be honest, I haven’t…but I would love to if I had the time.

6. What are your favorite games?

This is like asking what my favorite song is, it’s just not a question I can answer. There’s too many.

Well thanks for sharing many tips and info to the fans. Many Modding Sound Editors out there are grateful to sharing questions with you and get some feedback that can teach them more about your career and that may direct them through the right tracks into the Game industry. We appreciate your time and dedication during the interview, and will keep tabs on your future projects and your sound editing organization.

Helpful links for Modders and Sound Editors:

Digidesign Pro Tools TDM system

Below are links with information, and details about this tool. You will find links to download it too.